Skip to contentSkip to site indexSearch & Section Navigation Subscribe for $0.25/week Matt Gaetz Ethics Report Read the Report The Investigations Web of Payments to Women Withdrawal as Attorney General Pick Takeaways From the House Ethics Committee’s Investigation on Matt Gaetz A 37-page report detailed the findings from a yearslong investigation into allegations that Mr. Gaetz engaged in a range of illegal conduct. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Share full article 719 The House Ethics Committee report does not include a criminal referral, but concludes that former Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, broke prostitution laws in his home state.Credit...Jordan Gale for The New York Times Michael S. Schmidt By Michael S. Schmidt Dec. 23, 2024 After a yearslong investigation, the House Ethics Committee released a 37-page report on Monday into former Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, and allegations that he engaged in an array of illegal and untoward conduct, including having sex with a 17-year-old girl. Mr. Gaetz, who had been President-elect Donald J. Trump’s first choice to be attorney general before Mr. Gaetz withdrew from consideration, has repeatedly denied he did anything wrong. Here are takeaways from the report. The report says the evidence shows Mr. Gaetz engaged in a range of questionable conduct, some of it illegal. The committee concluded that Mr. Gaetz regularly paid women to have sex with him from 2017 to 2020 and had sex with an underage girl in 2017, during his first term in the House, and that the girl was paid. The report says that Mr. Gaetz used illegal drugs — including cocaine and Ecstasy — on multiple occasions between 2017 and 2019. It also says that he accepted gifts of transportation and lodging, in excess of dollar limits on what members of Congress are allowed to accept, as part of a trip he took to the Bahamas where he had sex with women whom he paid. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The report adds that he used his position to falsely claim to the State Department that a woman he had sex with was really a constituent who needed help obtaining a passport. Mr. Gaetz also obstructed the committee’s investigation, the report said. The report concluded that “there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.” It is not clear that Mr. Gaetz will face further prosecution. The Justice Department has already investigated Mr. Gaetz for the same matters examined by the House panel. Prosecutors informed Mr. Gaetz’s legal team in February 2023 that they would not bring charges. The prosecutors had concluded that they could not make a strong enough case in court, people familiar with the matter said at the time. There is no indication that the committee’s report has any evidence that would not have been available to federal prosecutors. And in less than a month, the Justice Department will be under the control of Mr. Trump, who just weeks ago wanted Mr. Gaetz to be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. The House Ethics Committee report does not include a criminal referral, but concludes that Mr. Gaetz broke state prostitution laws in Florida. But the bar to say someone broke the law is lower than having to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt in court. Image